when lightning strikes
by javajunkies
Summary: One-shot. A chance encounter at a California airport. Paige McCullers is afraid of thunder, and Emily Fields is there to comfort her.
**A/N:** Inspired by a prompt I stumbled across on Tumblr: "Better idea for chance encounters than a bar or a coffee shop: a storm is delaying our flight home and i'm afraid of thunder, please talk to me while we wait."

In which Paige McCullers is afraid of thunder, and Emily Fields is there to comfort her.

This is a one-shot for now, but I might be inspired to add on some other time. Enjoy!

* * *

Emily clutched her plane tickets in one hand and stared out of the floor-to-ceiling window of the Monterey Regional Airport. Everything appeared calm as she looked out at the empty runway, yet her flight had been delayed by an hour. Storms, they said. She glanced apprehensively at the people next to her. A man in glasses was staring at his phone, his briefcase at his feet. An older woman was reading a book with her husband dozing against her shoulder. A teenager maybe three years younger than herself was knitting. A little boy was yelling at his father because he wanted "tink." The father repeated in exasperation that he didn't have any "tink."

No one seemed the least bit concerned about their delay, and this annoyed Emily. Her flight was supposed to take off an hour ago; she should have been on her way home. Sure, California was fun. She had toured Stanford and seen their swim program; she had even met a few of the girls on the swim team. They seemed nice enough. They certainly pretended to like her, anyway. The student she had stayed with had taken her out to eat and had even shown her a few college parties. She was pretty sure she would like Stanford, but at the moment she wanted nothing more than to be home with her parents. It was one of those rare occasions when her father was home for a few days. He would be leaving again soon, and Emily had learned to treasure every moment she had with him.

She sighed as the minutes ticked by. Still, the atmosphere outside seemed calm. She would admit, though, that the clouds overhead seemed darker.

She pulled out her phone and checked the weather forecast. As she thumbed the screen, she sighed in dismay when she noticed the giant patch of green that indicated a storm cell. At the heart of the cell was a dark red color. She grimaced. Monterey Regional Airport was _not_ where she had planned to stay the night.

It was only thirty minutes later when the rain began. It was light at first, a soothing melody as it danced across the windows. Then the sky opened, and rain pounded against the runway and flooded the grass. A flash of lightning lit up the sky, surprising everyone in Emily's vicinity. A child began to cry as a roll of thunder shook the airport.

Emily sighed and rose out of her chair. Swinging her carry-on across her shoulder, she walked away from the window and looked around. The lights flickered briefly overhead, and she noticed worry flit across a few faces nearby. But she wasn't too concerned. Even though this particular storm was delaying her flight home, Emily loved storms; she loved the rhythmic fall of rain and the unsettling growl of thunder. She supposed it had something to do with how she loved horror films. Perhaps there was a connection.

As she looked around her, another girl caught her eye. She was seated on the floor with her back against the wall. Her legs were drawn to her chest and her arms were folded across her knees. Her fingers gripped the strap of her carry-on.

Emily studied her for a moment. She had brown hair, and Emily thought it was a bit like the ocean in the way it fell in waves across her shoulders. Her free hand dug half-moons into her skin, and Emily realized she was scared. She didn't hesitate before she walked over to her.

"Hi."

The girl looked over at her before turning away. She set her head upon her arms and stared across the hall.

"I'm Emily," Emily ventured with a smile.

The girl blinked. "Paige."

"Hi, Paige," Emily said. "Are you, um, are you okay?"

Paige tensed. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing," Emily argued carefully. She didn't know this girl very well—or at all, really—but she couldn't leave her alone now. It wasn't in her nature. This Paige girl was scared, and whether she liked it or not, she was stuck with her now.

"You'll think it's stupid." Paige muttered the words so softly that Emily almost didn't catch them. But she did, and she was quick to reply.

"I won't."

Paige didn't appear convinced. Emily sat down next to her, shrugging her bag off her shoulder and letting it settle beside her.

"You know," she said, "When I was little, my dad and I used to play in the rain." Paige said nothing, and Emily took it as a sign to keep talking. "My mom hated it. She told us we'd get sick, but we never did. We'd play tag and my dad—he'd always let me win. Then we'd jump in every puddle we could find. My shoes would be soaked through… I didn't like wearing rain boots even though my mom always tried to get me to wear them."

Emily paused and glanced over at Paige. The girl seemed like she was listening because when Emily stopped, she looked at her expectantly. She smiled and continued.

"After we played in the rain, my dad would scoop me up in his arms and hurry me inside just before the lightning started. We'd sit by the windows with mugs of hot chocolate that my mom had made—even though she put up this big front of hating our games and begging us to come inside, she always had hot chocolate and warm clothes ready for us—we'd sit by the windows and listen to the rain. And my dad would tell me stories about the rain… about the way it helped all of Earth's creatures… and he'd tell me how the thunder and lightning were telling stories to each other. We'd try to figure out what they were saying. He'd always pretend to be the thunder, and he'd call me his lightning bug..."

Emily trailed off with a grin. Her shoulders shook with a small laugh as she recalled all the memories of playing the rain with her father. That had been years ago—before he had left for Afghanistan. Before the war had made him hate the rain.

"Your dad sounds like a nice person," Paige finally said, tilting her head to look at Emily.

Emily nodded. "He is."

Just as Paige was about to speak, another roar of thunder split the night. Paige grit her teeth and closed her eyes. Her fingers dug into her upper arms, and Emily's brow creased in worry.

"I don't like thunder," Paige admitted with her eyes still closed.

"I can tell," Emily said, keeping any hint of amusement out of her voice. She spoke softly and soothingly and, instinctively, her hand reached out to grip the girl's shoulder. Her fingers curved around her and slipped over her collarbone. She felt Paige tense beneath her touch and she immediately pulled away. "I'm sorry. I—"

"No," Paige said at the same time. Emily fell silent as the girl spoke. "I didn't—I just wasn't expecting it, is all…"

The two girls were silent as the rain fell around them. Several seconds passed before Paige said anything else.

"Can you… keep talking to me? I think I just need to distract myself from… everything."

"Sure," Emily nodded. "Of course. Um…" She searched for something to talk about. She could tell her another story about the rain, but she figured that might get boring. She needed to engage with her somehow. About anything. "Where are you from?"

"Philadelphia," Paige answered. "Well, Rosewood, technically, but my family moved to Philadelphia when I was three and we're moving back to Rosewood in a few weeks. My mom misses this café in town. She's obsessed with it. And my dad… I don't think he likes city life."

"And you?"

"I don't want to move," Paige admitted, "but I like what I remember of Rosewood."

"It's a nice town," Emily agreed. Paige looked at her quizzically. She smiled. "I live there."

"Really?"

Emily nodded. "Yeah… I have since I was little."

"I guess we're waiting for the same flight then, huh?"

"I guess so. 5:40 to Philadelphia?"

Paige answered yes, and Emily smiled. She hadn't had a friend on the way over, so having one on the way back would be fun. And they could wait out the storm together, which was a bonus. As much as Emily liked storms, being stuck in an airport with complete strangers wasn't exactly her definition of a good time. She liked being left to her own devices, but it could get dull after a while. Having Paige to talk to was nice. Plus, her mom would be pleased to know she'd made a new friend. (At least, she hoped she could consider Paige a friend.) "What're you doing all the way out here?"

"Touring colleges."

"Oh yeah? Me too."

"No way!" Paige looked at her. "Which ones?"

"Stanford, mostly. They invited me to check out their swim team, so…" She shrugged.

"I was at Stanford, too," Paige said in surprise. "For field hockey, though. I've already seen their swim team, and, uh, I thought it'd be nice to explore my options."

"You swim?" It was Emily's turn to be surprised.

"Yeah, have been since I could crawl, basically. My dad taught me and then put me on all these swim teams… I loved it, and I haven't stopped since."

"You must be good," Emily observed. "Stanford's got a good swim program."

"I'm alright," Paige admitted sheepishly. "You must be good, too."

"I'm alright," Emily echoed. She offered a small smile, and she was pleased when Paige returned it. A small rumble of thunder rolled across the sky. Emily glanced at Paige and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Paige didn't tense up that time, and Emily smiled again. "You good?"

Paige nodded, relaxing into a smile of her own. "I'm good."


End file.
